Questions & Answers

Below is a list of general questions regarding the Cyber Security Research Alliance CRA, listed newest to oldest. If you do not find the information you are looking for here, you may submit a question or comment by clicking below.

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Questions and Answers

Question: May 29, 2013

Does the goverent still anticipate notification of selections and non-selection to proceed to full proposal on or before 31 May, 2013?

Answer:

All notifications have been made.

Question: May 21, 2013

When do you expect the results of the white paper will be out?

Answer:

All notifications have been made.

Question: April 25, 2013

Is there a time deadline for the white paper on April 26?. That is, is it April 26 12am EDT or is it April 26 11:59pm EDT

Answer:

Section D.3 of the Program Announcement states Whitepapers are due by 3:00pm (local time in North
Carolina, USA) on 26 April 2013.

Question: April 23, 2013

For the whitepaper, would the References Cited be included in the 20 page limit of the Reserach Program or are they exclusive of the 20 page Research Program?

Answer:

Yes, references are included in the 20 page limit

Question: April 22, 2013

In the event of funding, will the government directly fund each participating organization or will the government fund the LRO organization and they will distribute the funds to the other organziations via sub-contracts?

Answer:

With each Annual Program Plan (APP) will be a budget that will
indicate the total value of the APP as well as how much will go to each
member/subawardee for their part of the effort. Payments will be made to
the LRO based on the vouchers submitted by the LRO on behalf of the LRO and
all other members and subawardees. The LRO will then distribute the payments
through whatever arrangement they deem appropriate.

Question: April 17, 2013

Am asking for clarification on completing Table 1 Year 1 Budget Estimates by Research Area/CCR ($K). I read this Table as asking for a budget figure for each member for each RA (Risk, Detection, and Agility) and in the field directly below that figure, a budget figure showing how much of the first figure is dedicated to the Psychosocial CCRI. For Example, if the LRO budgets 100K for the Risk RA, and 40K of that 100K is dedicated to the Psychosocial CCRI, then in the Risk RA column on the Row labeled LRO, $100K would be entered and directly below that entry on the row labeled CCRI, $40K would be entered. Is that interpretation of the guidance for completing the Table correct?

Answer:

Yes

Question: April 17, 2013

I am at an DOE National Laboratory (FFRDC). The PA States:
To be responsive to this PA, cost sharing is encouraged but not required except for Federally-Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and National Laboratories. During the evaluation of proposals, cost sharing will be evaluated as it relates to the evaluation factors listed in the PA, based on the degree to which the proposed cost sharing enhances the proposal to result in added benefits to the Cyber Security CRA Program. For a proposed cost sharing to receive appropriate credit, each proposal should express a firm commitment to provide such cost share and evidence a process for integrating the cost share into the collaborative research program.
Can we cost share with "In-Kind" sharing? If so, could you also provide a definition of in kind from the CFR that I can show our legal counsel and so I can better understand how to valuate our in-kind contribution?
Thank you.
Frderick Sheldon

Answer:

Yes. See the DoD Grant and Agreement Regulations, Paragraph 32.23
for a discussion of cost sharing or matching.

Question: April 17, 2013

Does the "6 team members" refer only to the number of organizations in the consortium? Is a consortium member organizations allowed to have more than one employee engaged in the project?

Answer:

Yes and Yes.

Question: April 13, 2013

MSI also now includes Institutions that have a high percentage of students of Asian and Pacific Islander origin. Do such institutions qualify to be included as a MSI institution even through some of them are among the top tier flagship universities of the US?

Answer:

To qualify as an MSI, the institution must meet the definition included in the PA

Question: April 10, 2013

We are a (non-profit) Research Organisation from The Netherlands and we are quite active in the cyber research area. Would we, being non-US, be eligible as consortium member?

Answer:

Yes.

Question: April 05, 2013

In reference to the question regarding the 6 member team listed in the Q&A below. The FOA refers to "covered educational institutions" The definition of a "covered educational institution" is "(1) an institution of higher education eligible for assistance under title III or IV of the higher education act of 1965; or (2) an accredited HBCU/MSI." If I am reading the FOA correctly it is not REQUIRED to have an HBCU/MSI as a partner if you have a "covered educational institution", is this correct?

Answer:

The "covered educational institution" required to be included per the PA can be a Member or a Subawardee.

Question: April 04, 2013

Can you confirm that the institutions on this list:
http://www.nea.org/home/31987.htm
qualify as MSIs for this program?

Answer:

To qualify as an MSI, the institution must meet the definition
included in the PA

Question: April 04, 2013

May a consortium member who is a contractor also be eligable to bid on the Experimentaiton and Applied Research effort?

Answer:

The answer is expected to be yes; however, see the BAA for the Experimentation and Applied Research effort when it is released.

Question: April 02, 2013

The writeup on page 42 says: "a covered educational institution being included as a Member or Subawardee in a proposal"
To clarify the language, does that mean that one can have a subawardee covered educational institution (or more than one) that are not members of the consortium, but just funded by it?

Answer:

The HBCU/MSI may be proposed to be a Subawardee or a Member

Question: March 29, 2013

Could you please confirm that you will accept more than one application per institution for this funding opportunity.

Answer:

Whitepapers are requested from proposed consortia, not a single educational institution. However, there is no restriction on a single educational institution being included on more than one whitepaper submission.

Question: March 28, 2013

Does the 6 team number include the HBSU as well?
If yes, then this means the actual proper team should not exceed 4 to consider the BAA partner. Is this correct?

Answer:

The Consortium Membership is expected to have the LRO, a BAA Partner (Member to be named later), and up to four additional Members. The required HBCU/MSI organization may be proposed as a Subawardee or a Member. If the HBCU/MSI is proposed as a Member, then the expectation for Membership would be the LRO, BAA Partner, HBCU/MSI and up to three additional Members. A rationale must be provided for Membership that exceeds these numbers.

Question: March 27, 2013

Is there a limit to the number of applications that may be submitted by a single educational institution? I did not see this specified in the solicitation, but wanted to confirm.

Answer:

Per the PA, the first step in submission is a Whitepaper. Whitepapers are requested from proposed consortia, not a single educational institution. However, there is no restriction on a single educational institution being included on more than one Whitepaper submission.

Question: March 27, 2013

1. How many awards are you planning to make?
2. Can a University participate in multiple proposals efforts - that is join multiple teams?
3. With respect to HBCU. does a Minority Institution qualify - that is MI?
4. Is there as strict limit of 6 members for a CRA (including the HBCU and the Industry partner?

Answer:

Question 1 – One Cooperative Agreement award is anticipated to be made to a Consortium of organizations per the PA.
Question 2- Yes.
Question 3 – See definition in the PA.
Question 4 – If more than 6 members are proposed a rationale for such must be included in the proposal. See also the answer to the question above.

Question: March 26, 2013

Does the Government expect that the Period of Performance on the BAA will align to the Cyber CRA (i.e., if the Cyber CRA is extended, the BAA will automatically be extended)?

Answer:

The Period of Performance for the BAA contract will be discussed in the forthcoming BAA. It is anticipated that the period of performance for the CRA CA will overlap with the period of performance for the BAA contract but it is premature to discuss any extensions to either agreement during performance.

Question: March 26, 2013

Does the Government anticipate that the $350K of funding resulting from the CRA will be only a portion of the total BAA award, and that the award will also include a fee-bearing portion?

Answer:

Once the award selection is made associated with the BAA, a contract will be awarded for the BAA efforts AND the awardee will be added as a Member to the CA. This awardee will be funded under the CA with $350K annually to perform research without profit/fee as such profit/fee is not permitted under a CA. Profit/fee may be proposed under the BAA contract effort; however, see the BAA for any discussion related to this when it is released.

Question: March 26, 2013

Regarding the BAA, does the Government anticipate a single award, or could there be multiple awards?

Answer:

See the BAA when it is released.

Question: March 25, 2013

I am an academic institution and would like to include a Government organization as a partner in my proposal. Is this acceptable?

Answer:

Government organizations cannot receive funding under the CA to be awarded as a result of this PA, and thus they should not be included as Consortium Members or Subawardees as part of any proposal. However, should other Government organizations be interested in participating with the Cyber Security PA, they are asked to send an email with their contact information to the email address listed in the PA for questions and they will be contacted by the Government to discuss their potential involvement.

Question: March 25, 2013

I came across the Army’s Solicitation W911NF13R0004 and had a general question to ensure clarification on my behalf. I am clear on the government’s stated objective and process but I was not clear on was the language that stipulates in one area of the solicitation that if accepted, the vendor would be awarded $350K and in another area, the vendor cannot submit an effort that is profit/fee based. Having read these two factors, I am presuming if a vendor is selected to participate as a great honor, then the organization must submit a breakdown of how (at cost) the $350K is allocated across all personnel? (i.e. two people who have a fully loaded internal/cost rate at $175K to the organization would be outlined financially to the government). Is this accurate?

Answer:

Per the Program Announcement (PA), sometime following the award of the Cooperative Agreement (CA) to a consortium of organizations for the Cyber Security CRA, a separate BAA will be issued and a contract will be awarded for experimentation and applied research to a contractor, the PA calls the “BAA Partner.” Not only will the BAA Partner receive the contract award, this organization will also be added as a member of the consortium and will receive $350K of annual funding for research efforts under the CA. The regulations associated with the award of CAs prohibit profit or fee to be paid on research efforts; however, all allowable and allocable costs for the research may be paid under the CA, subject to the availability of funds. As a reminder, a BAA Partner is NOT to be proposed in response to this PA. The BAA Partner will be identified at a later date as discussed above and in the PA.

Question: March 18, 2013

The program announcement states: "ARL will award under a separate Broad Agency Announcement a contract for experimentation and applied research to mature cyber security research for the ARL Cyber Security Enterprise". Can you say anything about the timeframe for release of this BAA? Also, will there be any restrictions on the ability of an institution to bid on both the Cyber Security CRA as well as this upcoming BAA?

Answer:

No information is currently available about the timeline for the BAA referenced in the PA. Organizations will need to review the BAA once it is released; however, at this time it is not envisioned that there will be any restrictions on submitting proposals in response to both this PA and the referenced BAA.

Question: March 18, 2013

Would a non-profit organization as the Consortium lead also be acceptable?

Answer:

No. Per the PA, the Consortium must be led by an academic institution. However, a non-profit organization may be a Consortium Member.